Tenshi in the Outfield
by DragonKazooie89
Summary: In hopes that he can be part of a family again, Lucas prays for the local baseball team, the Toontown Angels, to win the pennant. Will his prayer change more than the baseball team's standings?
1. Fallen Angels

_Dedicated in memory of my cousin Dave and my uncle Steve, in which baseball was a big part of their lives_

* * *

**Chapter 1 – Fallen Angels**

It was a warm, mid-June afternoon in Toontown. Children were roaming the streets after being released from school, all of them eagerly waiting for the last day of school to arrive the following week. Among these kids are two children, a boy approaching his teenage years with blond hair curled in a cowlick, deep blue eyes and wore a red and yellow striped tee shirt with blue denim shorts and a girl several years his junior with long black hair, brown eyes and was wearing a red muumuu and sandals. They had become friends after unfortunate events brought the two together to the same foster home.

"Hey, Lucas," the girl said the blond. "Do you believe in Heaven?"

"Sure, why do you ask?" the boy responded.

"Just wondering." The girl paused for a couple of seconds before she asked another question. "Do you think my parents know you mom up there?"

"I dunno, maybe."

"That would be cool if they did, though because we're friends down here on Earth."

"Yeah."

As the two made their way home from school, they passed by the city baseball stadium. The local professional baseball team, the Angels, had been struggling through the season with a 13-game losing streak and was getting ready for another game later that day.

"You know what else is cool?" she said to Lucas. "Frankie's house is called a 'foster home' and her last name is Foster. Do you think her family started them?"

"It's probably just a coincidence, Lilo."

"Yeah but it's still cool."

"If you say so."

The friends took a shortcut through vacant lots and continued to converse until they arrived at a modest 1-story house on the corner of a street. The house itself was of a plain color with a decent lawn and had a white picket wooden fence surrounding it.

"Frankie, we're back," Lucas called as he opened the gate to the front yard with Lilo close behind.

"Hi, guys. How was school?" a young woman with red hair in a ponytail answered from the kitchen window before heading to the front door and opened it for the two kids.

"Boring," Lilo answered. "I can't wait for it to be over."

"I know how that was." Frankie turned her attention to the boy. "Anyways, Lucas, you have someone waiting for you inside."

"Who is it?" the boy asked.

"Well, go inside and see for yourself."

Happily curious, the blond went through the front door to find a man with a beard wearing a cowboy hat that hid his eyes from view, a yellow shirt with the sleeves rolled up to above his elbows and a brown vest and pants. He was sitting in the small living room on the couch waiting patiently for the boy to come home from school. The man was Lucas's father, Flint.

"Dad! What are you doing here?" Lucas asked in surprise.

"I came here to see you," his father said as he got up from his seat. "So, how've you been?"

"Fine."

"Doing good in school?"

"Uh-huh. We're almost done for the year."

"That's good. The Angels still your favorite team?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, I was just making sure because they aren't doing that well." Lucas's dad sighed and got down to eye level with him. Whenever that happened, Lucas knew that there was bad news. "Anyhow, I came to say that I'm going to be going away for a job. I know I said that the next time I came to visit it would be to pick you up but things aren't going as I hoped. I did everything in my power to get you back." The man sighed again and got back onto his feet before starting to head towards the front door. "If only your mother and brother were still around, it would probably never have come to this… I had to sign a release form for you and need to get it finalized by the court. I hope you understand."

Lucas just stood there and listened to his father, fearing for the worst until he finally answered with a soft "yeah."

"All right. Well, I have to go."

Afraid that he would be the last time he would see him, Lucas followed his dad out the door to a nearby bus stop, right before the bus arrived.

"Do you think we'll ever be a family again?" the blond asked.

Right before getting on, the man looked towards the nearby baseball stadium where the Angels played their home games. The only thing visible of it was the large lamps used to light the stadium for night games. "From what I can see, probably when your team wins the pennant. Take care, Lucas." Tugging down on the front of his hat, Flint got onto the bus with Lucas standing behind him, watching.

"You getting on too?" the bus driver asked the boy. Lucas shook his head as the bus doors closed shut and the vehicle began to take off down the road. All the blond could do now was watch it disappear from view and hope that he would be able to see his father again.

Hours later, at the baseball stadium, the Angels were in the middle of a game with the Dimmsdale Pirates. Lucas and Lilo managed to sneak into the game, on the girl's insistence to cheer her friend up, and were now hiding in a tree on the left-hand side of the stadium, watching the game with binoculars and a small radio.

_With the Angels down by five, it's now a 1-2 count to the Pirate's third baseman with a man on second at the top of the 7__th__, _the announcer said over the radio. _The Angels need one more out to get their chance at bat._

"Strike him out," Lucas quietly said to himself.

"You can do it," Lilo added, trying not to shout and get noticed by a nearby security guard who was quite large and dressed in blue.

On the baseball diamond, a blue anthropomorphic bird stood on the pitcher's mound, getting ready to pitch the ball to the current batter of the Dimmsdale Pirates.

_Lombardi gets his sign and here's the pitch_, the radio announcer continued. The pitcher, Falco Lombardi, sent the ball flying to the catcher to only for it to be popped up.

_The ball is hit high between left and center field._

The two outfielders closest to the ball, a brown bear and a Faerie Bruce wearing goggles, both gave chase before the bear called out for the catch. Unfortunately, the other outfielder didn't hear him.

_Banjo and Worrill both go for the catch, someone better call it!_

Banjo tried again and before he could get the ball, the two players ran into each other with a grunt and the ball fell between them, bouncing towards the wall.

_The two have just collided and blew the catch!_

"Where'd the ball go?" the Bruce asked, not being able to see well with his goggles knocked out of place. As the audience booed, the two players scrambled to get the baseball and ended up tripping over one another, adding more dissatisfaction to the field.

"Wow, they stink," Lucas said to himself after seeing the team's latest foul-up.

In the dugout of the Angels, a frustrated Mario threw his hat on the ground, not pleased with the last play. This was his first year with the team as manager, hoping to do well but was getting tired of all the fouled up plays and multiple losses. With a pitcher that was giving too many runs away in the last few innings, he felt that he had to take him out of the game.

_It looks like team manager is going to call time out to speak with his pitcher, Falco Lombardi._

"Uh oh," the blond whispered from the tree.

_It looks like he might take him out and Lombardi does not look happy about this._

"I-a need you to hand me the ball," Mario stated to Falco, placing his hand out for it.

"It ain't my fault; it's the outfield you need to take out!" Falco answered, miffed.

"I-a said hand me the ball," he asked again with a harsh tone.

Falco started at the ball in his hand and then back to Mario, who was starting to become impatient with his pitcher.

"You want it?" the bird asked before throwing it towards the seating section by home plate. "Well, go get it! You can have my glove too!"

_Lombardi has thrown the ball and his glove into the stands!_

"Okay, that's it." Mario, now greatly annoyed, grabbed Falco by the arm and pushed him towards the dugout. "Now get-a going."

Usually Mario had a calm and cheery disposition but when pushed too far, you didn't want to mess with him. It also didn't help that his team lost almost every single game during the season and were now sitting in last place in the standings. An infuriated Falco tackled his manager into the ground and all the man could do was fight him off in self defense. As the two struggled, the other members of the Angels that were on the field ran towards the pitcher's mound, trying to end the fight.

_Mario is now fighting off his own pitcher!_

"No one does that to me!" Falco shouted.

"There's a first time fo-ar everything, now get-a back to the dugout!"

"Over my dead body!"

"Get-a off of me!"

As the fight continued, the rest of the Angels ran off of the benches and onto the field to separate the two. Even the opposing team followed suit but were soon stopped by their own manager.

_Both teams are clearing the benches! Ladies and gentlemen, it's total chaos on the field!_

The Angels struggled to keep their manager and pitcher apart as they continued to fight and yell at each other.

"You call yourself a manager?" Falco shouted as he was being held back by the catcher, Kakoni and two of the basemen.

"Hey!" Mario shouted back while being taken away by half of the lineup.

Up in the boxes, the radio announcer, Chet Ubetcha, stood up from his seat and continued to describe the scene that happened before him. "This is crazy! Mario is fighting off his own team after being provoked by his pitcher!"

"Great…" Lucas groaned.

"Looks like Mario's cooling off but the team is still trying to keep the two apart."

From the stands, fans continued to jeer and none more so than Wario, a man who looked a lot like Mario but fatter and had a crooked mustache. "You stink, Mario!" he shouted.

"You're out of here, Lombardi! You too, Mario!" the home plate umpire shouted.

"Wait, what?" Mario asked in surprise.

"You heard me. Off of the field."

"Aw, leave 'em in," Lucas protested from his hiding place.

"Don't throw him out!" Lilo added in excitement, getting the attention of nearby security.

"Dah, what are you kids doing there?" the guard shouted to Lucas and Lilo.

"Uh, oh."

"Looks like the game's over for us," the boy said to his friend.

"Yeah, you better run!" the security guard yelled at them as they climbed down from the tree's branches. The two kids ran towards the fence, where there was a hole that they used to get in. The hole itself was obscured by some bushes, which they climbed through to make their way out of the fenced stadium area.

Back on the field, Mario was trying to keep himself from having to leave the field along with Falco, who was yelling at the ump rather than speaking to him calmly like his manager was.

"You're kicking us out?" Mario asked the umpire.

"Yeah, I'm kicking both of you out," he answered.

"You can't do that to me. Mario was the one who started it," Falco stated.

"_I _started it?" his manager questioned.

"Yeah, you. You're the one who pushed me."

"Well, _you_ didn't get-a yourself to the dugout when I-a asked."

"That's enough from both of you now get out of here!" the umpire shouted to them.

"Fine, I'm-a gone." Mario answered. "Come on Falco."

"I'd never thought I'd have to say that to him," the umpire said to himself as Mario headed for the lockers with his pitcher.

"Looks like the two are going to have to watch the rest of the game in the locker room," Chet stated before taking his microphone off the air. "I'm surprised Conagher is able to put up with this baloney," he said

"Think you could do better maybe?" Ubetcha's co-commentator, Zoidberg asked.

"Probably could if I played my cards right." After that last sentence, he turned his microphone back on and went back to commentating. "What is going on with this team and how long will Angels owner Dell Conagher be able to put up with this? You have to ask yourself these questions especially with Mario being the one calling the shots. Seems like you'll know know what will happen with this team."

* * *

Authoress' notes: Dell Conagher is the canon name of the (BLU) Engineer from Team Fortress 2, in case you weren't sure.


	2. Lucas's Prayer

Chapter 2 – Lucas's Prayer

Inside the hallway leading to the locker rooms for the Angels, the team was returning to the locker rooms to get dressed and clean up after another disappointing loss. As each player passed the entrance, they hit the top or the sides of the doorway, depending on how tall each player was.

"I still don't understand why you guys do that every time we lose," Falco stated.

"It's for good luck," answered Hiroki Takasugi.

"After all of our losses maybe we should touch something else," Corey Demario suggested.

"How about part of Leela?" Scout asked jokingly.

"Don't even think about it; that's sexual harassment," she responded. As Makoto walked by behind her, she smacked Leela in the back of the head with her glove. "Hey!"

"You never know," the brunette chuckled before heading to the women's lockers.

"Maybe we could do it before each game instead of afterwards," Goofy suggested.

"Aw, they got the wrong kind of sandwich meat again," Patrick complained from the snack table as he took some food off of it and put it onto his plate.

Over in the rehabilitation area, a sore Mickey Kaline was resting himself in one of the whirlpools after a day of working with his hurt arm. Over the last few years, it was getting into bad shape, probably due to arthritis acting up and he was now on the injured players list.

"Hey, Mick. How are you feeling today?" Hiroki asked the veteran player as he was heading towards the showers.

"Feeling pretty good today, especially my arm. It's starting to feel strong again."

"That's good to hear. You'll be throwing no-hitters any day again."

Back at the lockers, Bobby "Iceman" Drake was singing a song about how the team never won. Even though it was making fun of his own team, he didn't care. He still had fun playing.

"That's-a enough, Drake," Mario said, annoyed. The lockers became eerily quiet as the team stared at their manager. He made his way to the middle of the men's locker room and crossed his arms. "It-a feel like you guys aren't even trying! That's another game we-a could have won! Are you-a sure you guys are professionals? We-a need to start playing as a team! Face it, we-a don't even lose as one. All-a you care about is yourselves. Now I-a want you all here at-a nine in the morning tomorrow so-a we can go back to fundamentals."

"But it's the middle of the season!" Izumi commented from the other room as she listened in.

"Nine? I thought the game started at one." Goofy said to his manager.

"It DOES start at one."

"Oh, okay."

Mario sighed as he covered his face with his right hand and left the locker room.

Thirty minutes later, Mario headed to the top of the stadium to meet with the team owner about the team's performance earlier as well as the scuffle he had with Falco.

"Listen, I'm-a sorry about today. I-a guess stress got the betta of me," he apologized as he took off his hat and scratched his head. "I've-a always played for fun, not profit."

"I know Mario but that doesn't excuse they way you acted today," Mr. Conagher told his team's manager.

"It wouldn't be too much to ask to trade most of the team, would it?"

"I can't trade all those players."

"Sorry, it's just that I can't do anything with them. Nobody can with with these people. A lot of them just don't have the talent for the game."

"This ain't the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario. No one expects ya to win with these players."

"But I thought I came here to help manage a winning baseball team."

"You will one year, Mario. Y'all jus' hang in there."

"Mr. Mario, we need you on the field for the after-game interview!" a voice, unfamiliar to the Angels manager, shouted from a megaphone on the baseball field.

"Who was that?" Mario asked to the team owner before heading down to the field.

"The name's Roderich Edelstein," the man greeted Mario as he walked into the stadium. "I'm the administrative assistant of media relations for the team. It's a pleasure to meet you," he greeted, adjusting his glasses.

"What happened to the other guy?"

"He was fired on Friday and I started today. Mr. Ubetcha is waiting for you for the after-game interview."

"All-righty then," Mario sighed as he made his way to the mound to meet up with him.

Chet was making some chit-chat on his cell phone with another news reporter as the crew was getting him set up for the interview. As soon as he spotted the manager, he hung up his phone, put it away and got himself situated. "Thrown out of the game, I bet the commissioner's fine is going to be pretty hefty," he said to the team manager before getting onto a platform set up for him so that he could be at Mario's height for the interview.

"Yeah, I know."

"We're on in three, two, one…" one of crew members said, letting them know they were going live.

"This is Chet Ubetcha with Angels' manager, the famous Super Mario. Mr. Mario, that was a tough loss your team had today."

"Any-a loss is a hard one."

"Seems like this one really got to you. You came here after leaving the Mushroom Kingdom with successful minor league teams to manage in professional baseball. Expectations were high at the beginning of the season for this team to improve but that doesn't seem to be happening. Your thoughts on this?"

"The season is-a not even-a half over."

"But your club is in last place."

"I know but one-a incident could-a easily change-a the course of events."

"Well, you just have to take your chances and have to be at the right place at the right time."

"You also know that-a actions speak-a louder than words and I plan-a to do just-a that once the second half of the season begins."

"We'll see about that." Before Mario came around to manage the Angels, Chet Ubetcha was the most famous person related to the team. Since then, he had been losing popularity and was beginning to become jealous of the famous hero.

"Well, that about do it for…" Zoidberg butted in before the two got into a fight live on the air.

"I'm still talking here." Chet poked his head up from behind the humanoid crustacean.

"No, I think we're done here," Mario added in before pushing the announcer off of the platform and attempted to make an exit.

"I guess we'll be right back," the other announcer stated as his co-worker got onto his feet and the Angels manager left the field.

At around this time, back at the foster home, Lucas and Lilo sat at a table in the middle of a large kitchen with their caretaker as well as another boy Frankie looked after by the name of Eric Cartman. They were all eating dinner, with the exception of Lucas, who was pushing his meal across his plate.

"Are you all right, Lucas? You haven't eaten any of your dinner." Frankie asked.

"I'm not hungry," the blond sighed while poking at his mashed potatoes.

"By the way, Eric, you have to miss the baseball game tomorrow. Your social worker called earlier today and you have an interview."

"Like I care, the Angels never win," the large boy answered.

"Even if they don't, I still want to go to the game," Lilo said. "You never know."

"Yeah, and you could die of food poising tonight."

"Cartman…" Lucas complained.

"Guys, finish you dinner and you can have some chocolate pudding for dessert," the red-headed woman told the three children.

"You know, it's not really pudding," Cartman smirked, trying to get a rise out of Lilo.

"If it's not pudding, what is it?" she asked.

"It's actually dog-"

"Cartman, no! That's gross!" Lucas shouted in disgust, cutting him off.

"Eric, I won't have that kind of talk at the dinner table," Frankie scolded at him. "Save that kind of talk with your friends." Their caretaker handed out bowls for dessert while Lucas kept on playing with his dinner, thinking about his dad.

For the rest of the night, that's all he thought about, all the way until bed time. Frankie's house had two separate bedroomrooms for the kids she took care for, one for the boys and one for the girls. They were a bit small but the children she looked after, both past and present, didn't really complain. Lucas and Cartman were in two separate bunk beds, both on the top in one room and Lilo was in another room across the hall on the bottom of another pair of bunk beds. The two boys never really talked to one another unless they were arguing or got on each other's nerves. Their caregiver made her usual rounds, making sure the kids were comfortable and make sure took care of what they needed to do, from brushing their teeth to saying their prayers.

"Good night, boys," Frankie said to Eric and Lucas as she left the room and turned off the light.

"Night," the both responded.

"Stupid meetings, they're always boring," Cartman mumbled to himself as he got comfortable. He had all ready been to several of them before and he hated them because they were long, boring and always ended with him being sent back to a foster home. As much as he disliked Eric, Lucas couldn't help but feel a little bit sorry for him. However, this quickly left his mind as he started at the stars in the sky outside his window. Even though they lived in the city, there were quite a bit of starts that were visible to the eye. As the blond stared at the stars, he remembered what his mother and told him and his brother, Claus, years ago when they needed help.

"I don't know if there's anyone out there but if you can hear me," he whispered, "but I'd really be happy if I could get a family. From what my dad said, that'll only happen if my favorite baseball team, the Angels, win the pennant. If you could help them out a little so I can have that chance, I'd really appreciate it."

Lucas turned over to his side away from the window and went to sleep. From the night sky, a star twinkled brightly as if someone had heard his cry for help.


	3. Help From Above

Chapter 3 – Help from Above

The next morning at the baseball stadium, Mr. Conagher was sitting at his desk, going over some paperwork when Mario knocked at the door. The man got up from his desk and let his manager in.

"Ya feelin' better today, Mario?" the Angels owner asked.

"Much-a better, thank you," Mario answered.

"Ya got fined $4,500 for your fight with Lombardi yesterday and ya almost got yourself into more trouble by arguin' with Chet."

"I know but I'm-a over it."

"Seems like Ubetcha has been at ya lately and I'm surprised your handling it a lot better than the team's standings."

"One angry announcer is-a easier to manage than a team of-a twenty-five players."

"Well, just keep ya wits about ya, Mario. Y'all ready got quite enough problems as it is. All that I ask is that you control yourself today."

"Can do, sir."

A short while later, outside of the stadium, school buses arrived in packs as the local elementary and junior high schools were having a trip to let the students attend a professional baseball game as a special treat for the end of the school year. Two of these children on the bus were Lucas and Lilo, who were excited to see a baseball game without having to sneak into it or watch it on TV. With the rest of the kids on the buses, they ran into the stadium after getting admitted into the game. The two grabbed seats on the bleachers in the lower seating area behind left field.

"These are great seats," Lucas commented with a smile.

"A lot better than the tree, huh?" Lilo added.

"You bet."

On the baseball field, Izumi Himuro was practicing her batting with one of the team's pitchers as Mickey approached Mario about his progress.

"Hey, Mario. The trainers say I'm ready to pitch again. When do you think I'll be getting off the injured list?"

"Probably not for a while," the manager answered. "Right now you're-a here because of a contract and from what I've-a seen and heard your arm is-a probably gone."

"Aw, come on Mario. If anything happens, I'll just be here to back up my fellow pitchers. Help them finish an inning or two. Just because I had to play using pain medication past doesn't mean I have to now."

"Sorry but I'd-a rather not take-a any chances." The Angels manager headed to the dugout where half of his team was all ready sitting.

After the traditional singing of America's national anthem at the beginning of the baseball game, the team got ready to play while Mario was rubbing his eyes.

"That song gets to you, huh?" Bobby asked.

"Not really, I just have sunscreen in my eyes."

"Will we win today?" Goofy asked a Magic Eight Ball, which revealed a "no" answer. He shook it again and this time the answer was more positive. "That's better."

"José, can ya see..." Scout sung to himself as he approached the pitcher got his stuff ready for the game.

"You mean all this time it was about some Mexican guy?" Goofy asked him.

"Yeah."

"I never knew that! José, can you see…"

"That was too freakin' easy," the Bostonian chuckled to himself as Goofy left the dugout to warm up pitching. He ran and did a quick slide as he approached the mound and was given the ball by his catcher, Patrick.

"And Goofy Goof takes the mound after performing his trademark slide to the rubber," Chet announced. "His in-game antics are definitely fitting of his name."

"That's right, Chet," Zoidberg added. "Just this season we have seen him balance the ball on his nose like a trained seal, act like a chicken and even floss his own catcher's teeth." As soon as he finished his sentence, Mr. Ubetcha flipped the switch changing the commentator's active microphone back to his own.

"However, none of that seems to have helped his pitching. His current standing is 2-9." Goofy threw a few pitches to the starfish before signaling that he was ready to go. "And with just a few throws, he signals his catcher that he's ready." Goofy gave an overly complex wind up before throwing the first pitch of the game. The batter sent a line drive over his head towards Worrill, who missed it completely and ran into the wall trying to catch it. "And with the first pitch of the game, the Angels have an error and the Pirates have a man of base."

As time went on, the score had remained the same as it was after the first the first play of the game with the exception of three more hits that have been executed by the visiting team. "As we get to the top of the 6th, the score remains nothing to nothing," Chet announced. "The Angels have managed to keep the Pirates from scoring but as they have the middle of the batting order coming up starting with with the dangerous Lilo Blumario."

_Now batting, number 21, Lilo Blumario, _the in-stadium announcer said as his voiced echoed.

"Goof winds up in his usual trademark fashion."

"Will he please throw the ball…?" Mario sighed as Goofy got into his wind up.

"Here's the pitch… and the ball is smashed far into center field! Banjo may not get to it in time!"

Running as fast as his feet could carry him, the bear ran towards the wall while keeping his eyes on the baseball. Lucas kept his sight on the ball as well when he noticed two figures coming out of the sky. From what the boy could make out, they were of two women, one with blond hair like him and the other with long dark blue and pink hair. Both were sporting a pair of wings and outfits that were partially white with either pink or blue hearts on them. The two flew towards Banjo and grabbed him by the arms as he jumped into the air to try and catch the baseball.

Almost the entire stadium stood up in awe as they watched the play including the entire Angels team, who came out of the dugout. However, only Lucas could see the women supporting the outfielder into the air. The rest of the attendees just stared at the airborne bear as if he was levitating.

"Tell me again why we're doing this, Stocking," the blonde girl said the other.

"Because if we don't we'll be stuck on Earth," the other one responded. "I don't know about you but I'm not one to get kicked out of Heaven just yet."

As soon as Banjo securely caught the fly ball into his glove, the two dropped him onto the ground and vanished as quickly as they appeared.

"Banjo just made an astounding catch ladies and gentlemen!" Ubetcha reported from his box with the outfielder trying to figure out what had just happened.

"How'd he do that?" Mario asked, still in shock.

"Wow!" Lilo shouted in amazement.

"How… how in the world did he do that!" Chet commented in amazement after switching his mic off the air.

Back at the pitcher's mound, all Goofy could do was stare with his mouth dropped open as Banjo threw in the caught baseball to his cutoff man in the infield. Even Conagher was impressed by the catch he has witnessed through his binoculars. The short radio announcer quickly switched it back on to add more commentary as his other workers looked for maybe a possible explanation for that last play.

"That, my friends, will be one play you'll see in highlights reels for years," he added before going off the air. "Get me some info on this!"

"Whoa! Did you see that?" Lucas asked Lilo from the bleachers.

"Yeah, what a play!" she responded happily.

"Those two ladies came out of nowhere."

"What two ladies?"

"The ones with those dresses with hearts on them."

"What are you talking about? Did you just see some aliens or something?"

"I guess you didn't see them." Lucas then turned his attention to the man who was criticizing Mario the day before. "Hey, mister, did you see that?"

"Lucky catch," he grumbled.

"No, those two girls that were holding up Banjo. Did you see 'em?"

"What the heck are you talking about?"

"There were flying ladies out on the field!" Lucas protested.

"Go way, kid. You're bothering me…"

"But, but…" Lucas sighed and sat back down onto the bleachers as the man finished his drink and got up to go to the bathroom.

"That was great!" a voice shouted before another man appeared next to him. This guy wore a white suit and sunglasses and had a shaggy white beard "I love it when they fly out of the sky like that."

"Out of the sky? You saw them too?" Lucas asked, surprised that someone else actually spotted them as well.

"The angels, yeah."

"They were angels?"

"Yep, the girls are hanging by a thread with the Big Guy, that's why they're down here helping out."

"The Big Guy? You.. you mean..."

"You betcha."

"Then who are you?" the blond asked.

'The name's Mr. Jimmy," the bearded man answered. "Nice to meet 'cha, kid."

"Hi, I'm Lucas."

"I thought so. By the way, no one can see or hear me. Guess I don't have to worry about people eavesdropping in our conversation, huh?"

"I guess but why are you here?"

"You asked for help so here we are. Angels come and go whenever and wherever we're needed. Just keep your eyes and your heart open, kid. Oop, gotta go." Mr. Jimmy poofed in a flash of light only Lucas could see and the guy that was sitting next to Lucas earlier sat back down in his seat.

"Who were you talking to Lucas?" Lilo asked.

"Um, no one really." The blond just sat there, staring at Wario, trying to make sense of what had just happened.

"What do you want?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing."

About a few innings later, the game reached the bottom of the 9th with both teams still tied zero to zero.

"With two outs against them the Angels, they need to score to defeat the Pirates before this game goes into extra innings. Next up for the Angels is their catcher, Patrick Star, who has gone without a hit for his last 19 at bats."

_Now batting for the Angels, number 24, Patrick Star, _the in-stadium announcer stated as the starfish got into position to bat. As he gripped the bat, another set of hands gripped with him.

"Here comes another one," Lucas said to himself as another angel appeared alongside the catcher. This angel had long blond hair, was muscular and wore a steel visor over his eyes and a form-fitting white suit over his body. The opposing pitcher wound up and threw the baseball right to the strike zone, where Patrick hit the ball with enough force to split the bat in two and tear some of the covering off of it as it was sent sailing over center field and into the stands.

"That one is gone!" Chet shouted into the microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen, Patrick Star has broken not only the bat but the Angels' losing streak as he scores a home run in the bottom of the ninth to win the game!"

The whole stadium cheered as the starfish rounded the bases and raised his arms in triumph. As soon as he reached home plate, he was greeted by the rest of his teammates with various high fives, pats on the back and fist bumps.

"We won," Mario said to himself, still in shock over what his catcher was able to accomplish. Eventually, it was able to sink in and he began to applaud for his players.

Up in the commentator's box, Chet Ubetcha sat in disbelief over what had just occurred and bit his hand. "How did that happen…" he muttered.

"You didn't see the angel with Patrick, did you?" Lucas asked Lilo but she shook her head in response. "But there were angels in the outfield and in the infield."

"You mean the players, right?"

Lucas just sighed as the in-stadium announcer began to speak about a drawing they had whenever the team won, which was almost never. _Ladies and gentlemen, now we are going to give three lucky winners a chance to be photographed on the field with Angels manager, Super Mario. The first winning ticket is number 619553._

"I won," Lilo said to herself as she looked at ticket number.

"You did?" Lucas asked. "Mind if I see it."

"Uh-huh." The girl handed her ticket over to her friend. Lucas stared at the number and she was right, her ticket was a winner. "You can take the picture if you want, Lucas. I know the Angels are your favorite team."

"What's going on around here anyway?" the blond whispered to himself.

A few moments later, the two friends had made their way down towards the field where some of the Angels were making their way to the locker rooms. A man was guiding them to where they needed to be when they passed one of the older members signing autographs.

"Who's he?" Lilo asked as they passed him.

"Looks like you kids don't know your baseball. That's Mickey Kaline."

"I've heard of him," Lucas said to the worker. "He pitched three shutouts in a row seven years ago."

"That's right."

"My dad told me a bit about him."

Lilo poked Kaline on the leg to get his attention. "You were Mickey Kaline?" she asked.

"Yeah, I was," the player answered. "Bye, kid."

"Come on, miss," the worker said to Lilo so that her friend could take the picture with Mario.

"We have three photo ops for you to take but they'll be quick," Roderich said to Mario as they headed onto the field to take the pictures. "By the way, they're all kids."

"Okay then, let's-a go," the manager responded as he got into position for them.

"First kid!" Roderich signaled the first child over, who happened to be Lucas.

"Go on, Lucas," Lilo said to her friend, pushing him over to Mario. Roderich took Lucas over to the pitcher's mound, where Mario stood and he positioned Mario's hand onto Lucas's shoulder.

"There we go," the administrative assistant said before moving out of the way so the picture could be taken. The two just stood there with straight faces.

"Could you maybe smile? The team just won," the photographer said to them.

"I-a would but there was-a no way this team could have won."

"They won because angels helped them," the blond told Mario.

"Huh?"

"Real ones, I saw them on the field. Two of them came from the sky and grabbed Banjo by the arms and then another one was swinging with Patrick. That's why the bat broke."

"No offense but the-a only angels that were out-a there today were the players and I-a seriously doubt there were real ones helping us out today."

"It's true, just ask them! They'll tell you that something is going on."

Mario just started at the boy, thinking he was a bit crazy but it never hurt to check. There had to be a reasonable explanation for those great plays that day.

That night back at Frankie's house, she was working on some late night chores in the living room when Lucas came in. He couldn't sleep because he had too much on his mind and he had to ask Frankie something important.

"Lucas, what are you doing up so late?" the redhead asked.

"Couldn't sleep. Is it all right if I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Do you believe in angels?"

"What does that have to do with you being unable to sleep?"

"I want to know. Do you think that they are real?"

"Well, there are a lot of things in life that happen that can't be explained and I believe that miracles can happen at any time, which makes every day worth getting up to. So, yeah, I do believe in angels."

"Really? Me too." Lucas just smiled at his caretaker, glad that he wasn't the only one that believed that they existed. "Good night, Frankie."

"Good night."

Frankie chuckled quietly to herself as Lucas returned to his room and stared at the stars outside of his window, wondering if he'll see the angels again at another game.


	4. Mario's New Good Luck Charm

Chapter 4 – Mario's New Good Luck Charms

The next morning, Mario was reviewing the tapes from yesterday's game, talking to Banjo about the catch that he performed in the 6th inning.

"That was a nice catch yesterday, Banjo. Do you remember what it-a felt like or did it happen too-a fast for you?"

"It was weird, as if someone was holding me up in the air, almost like when Kazooie is in my backpack and we take off into the sky. However, she wasn't there so I know that wasn't the case. I have no clue how I did that."

After the bear told Mario all he knew about the incident, the manager went to go and talk to his catcher.

"It felt like someone was swinging with me," the starfish told Mario as he got a snack. "But there was no one there. I don't know where that came from. Maybe it was the Krabby Patties I had before the game. The last one tasted kind of funny."

Still perplexed, the manager thought the best thing to do was to go and talk to the boy he took that souvenir picture with. The best way to do that was personally give that picture to him, which he would do as soon as soon as that picture was ready.

A couple of days later, Mario, with picture in hand in an envelope, arrived at Frankie's house and knocked at the front door. The woman promptly answered the door a few seconds later.

"I'm-a looking for a Lucas Oriander. Does he-a live here?" the manager asked her.

"Yes, why do you ask?" Frankie responded.

"I'm-a Mario from the Toontown Angels and I got the picture that he-a won at the game last week." He then showed the envelope containing the photo to her.

"Oh. Nice to meet you." The red-head then held out her hand to take the photo. "I'll be glad to give this to him."

The man pulled his hand with the photo in it back. "Do you-a mind? I'd-a like to give it to him myself."

"Sure, come on in He should be back from school in a few minutes."

"Thank you." The manager took a seat on the couch as he waited for Lucas to return. "So, are-a you his sister?" Mario asked the woman.

"No."

"Cousin, aunt?"

"No, we're not related. This is a short-care foster home and he's under my guardianship for the time being. Lucas is a ward, you see."

"Oh…" the mustachioed man cleared his throat. "So, does-a Lucas like to make up stories?"

"No, he doesn't. He actually has a very strong grip on reality and never does that kind of thing. A lot of kids in his position are actually pretty grounded."

"I bet." Mario heard a voice outside the window and saw the blond and his friend returning home from school, one of them being the boy he was waiting for.

"What do want with him, anyways?"

"He's-a young fan, we need-a more of them," Mario hurried outside the door to meet the two children before they came in. "You-a there, Lucas?" he called as the blond and Lilo approached the house.

"Huh? Oh, Mr. Mario," the boy responded. "What are doing here?"

"I-a got your photo from last game and I-a wanted to give it to you."

"Thank you." Lucas took the envelope from the manager and opened it. He pulled the picture from the folder to see himself and Mario staring with emotionless faces.

"Looks like a mugshot," Lilo said quietly to Lucas as he started at the photo.

"You told me yesterday that you saw something at the game," Mario said to the boy.

"Yeah, angels."

"Why do you-a think there-a was angels on the baseball field?"

"I kind of prayed for them. Nothing else was working for the team so I thought it might help."

"So, um… Who's your friend?"

"This is Lilo." The blond then motioned to the girl standing next to him.

"Hi," Lilo greeted.

"Nice to-a meet you, Lilo," Mario responded before turning his attention back to Lucas. "So, do you think these angels will come back?"

"I guess when the team needs help."

"This is silly," Mario said to himself as he sighed. "Anyway, do you-a want to go to the game tomorrow? I keep a couple of-a empty seats by the dugout and you can-a bring your…, whateva she is, along with you."

"I don't really care for baseball games," Frankie stated after listening in on the conversation while putting some things away. "But Lucas can go."

"Can Lilo come with me instead?" Lucas asked.

"Fine with me."

"All right!" Lilo shouted because she could actually see a baseball game from by the dugout rather than far away in by the outfield or in a tree.

The next day and the game came quickly as the groundskeepers were preparing the infield and a few of the players were running back and forth on the field, stretching.

"Hello folks, this it Chet Ubetcha coming live from Angels Stadium. With a win under their belt after defeating the Pirates yesterday, the Angels now begin a 3 game series against the visiting Fourside Starmen before the Season Break." The announcer took out a pair of binoculars and began to scour the stands to check out the audience. "Their recently victory seems to have given both the team and their fans a boost. As far as I can tell, they look a lot more energetic that yesterday, wouldn't you agree Zoidberg?"

"Most definitely, Chet," his fellow announcer added. "As we saw a few days ago…" While Zoidberg was trying to get a word in, Chet switched off both microphones.

"Try to keep it at a minimum, they'll like you more," Mr. Ubetcha stated while Zoidberg just stared at him until the short announcer but his microphone back on the air. "It's all ready 15 minutes until game time and there are more people in the stands today than there were at the last four games combined."

While various fans were preparing for the game by finding their seats, Roderich was coming down from the concession stands with drinks, popcorn, hot dogs and Cracker Jacks for both Lucas and Lilo. "Here you kids are. Just take them," he said to the two of them. "You need anything else?"

"How about some nachos?" Lucas asked as he took a tray of refreshments. "Would that be okay?"

"Can I have some too?" Lilo chimed in while trying to open a packet of ketchup for her hot dog. While fiddling with it, she accidentally squirted some onto Roderich's suit, much to his distress. "Oops."

"My suit!" the man shouted as he jumped up out of his seat, staring at the fresh stain. He liked his outfits clean and ketchup would be almost impossible to get out since the suit had to be dry cleaned. "How do I get this stain out? Hot… cold… club soda, I need club soda."

"You want my soda?" Lilo asked, trying to hand her soda to him. Unfortunately, the soda slipped out of her hands and right into his lap.

"Oh, no!"

"Sorry…"

Roderich sighed. "Get up, right now," he demanded. "Give me your food and we're going to go clean up." He took her tray of snacks and put it onto Lilo's seat as soon as she got up and they stepped into the aisle to go clean.

Mario was heading back to the dugout after checking on his starting pitcher for the game, Corey Demario, when he spotted his assistant for media relations covered in soda and ketchup. "What-a happened to you?" the manager asked.

"It's those two kids," Edelstein complained, gesturing to them.

"Well, just keep-a them happy. The boy might-a be lucky." Roderich took Lilo by the hand and took her up the stairs to the restroom in order to clean up the mess. "We-a gonna win today?" Mario asked the blond.

"Maybe," Lucas answered.

"Why-a maybe?"

"I dunno; it's your team."

The manager turned his head to see one of his worst batters swinging awkwardly and two other members sitting the wrong side of the dugout before turning his attention back to Lucas. "Oh, yeah. Right."

As soon as Mario left to check on his team, a bright flash of light appeared in Lilo's seat. As soon as the boy turned around, he saw the same man in the white suit and beard from the last game sitting next to him.

"It's you again!" Lucas shouted. He tried to turn around to get Mario's attention so he could show the manager that there was an angel sitting next to him. A young woman with brown wavy hair, a white Jinjo and a ghost-colored Shoyru sitting behind him just stared at the blond, wondering if there was anything wrong.

"Calm down, Lucas," Mr. Jimmy said to the boy. "You're the only one that can hear and see me, remember?"

Lucas just stared at the trio behind him and waved before sitting back down, blushing.

"I left kind of quickly yesterday that I forgot to tell you the rules. First of all, don't tell anyone about us. We hate recognition. I heard you all ready told your best friend but not anyone else. If people knew we were around, there would be no way I could get an angel within a mile of this place."

"Okay. Are you going to help today?"

"We'll see kid. We're a pretty sensitive bunch and you'll never know when we'll show up. Just enjoy the game and keep your eyes peeled. Bye."

Again, Mr. Jimmy disappeared in the same fashion as before, right as Lilo and Roderich returned to their seats.

"Hey, Lilo; Mr. Jimmy was here again," Lucas said to his friend.

"Who's Mr. Jimmy?" she asked.

"He was the angel I was just talking to. He's in charge of the ones who are helping the team."

"Cool. Could you let me know if he shows up again? I'd really like to see him."

"Mr. Mario, over here!" Lucas shouted from the stands to get the manager's attention while waving his hands.

_I wonder what he wants now, _Mario thought to himself as he approached the boy.

"I saw an angel!" the blond told him.

"You saw one?"

"Yeah, he was sitting next to me earlier."

"Okay… I betta get back to my team."

"But what if I see another angel?"

"Well, I was kind of thinking to you to-a be more of a good luck charm but I think it would be betta if you keep it to yourself."

"But you're the manager! You need to know what to do when another angel shows up to help! And if I don't tell you…"

"Okay, okay! Relax! Well, in-a baseball we have signs, why don't you-a do that instead? I can't come-a over here every minute of the-a game."

"Okay, I'll do this." Lucas flapped his arms like a bird for the signal since angels had wings and he couldn't think of any other signs that would work.

"That'll do."

"And we can't let Roderich know."

"Right." Mario turned around and headed back to the dugout. "Probably should tell anyone else either," he muttered to himself before sitting down on the bench.

Lucas got back into his seat as Roderich handed the nachos and the rest of the snacks to him and Lilo. In order to make room in her hands for all of the food, the girl took the nachos she had and put them onto the man's seat, which he did not notice.

"Thanks, Roderich. Um, where are the nachos?" Lucas asked.

Before Lilo could get them out of his seat, Austria sat right down onto them. Upon hearing a loud crunch, the man's eyes widened in shock while Lilo began to snicker.

"Sorry," the two kids laughed as the assistant got up with nacho cheese and chips all over the seat of his pants.

"I'm going to go clean up… again…" Roderich groaned as he headed up the stairs once more to the restrooms.

As the game progressed, Edelstein had returned to his seat, finally cleaned up, while the Angels defense was giving up hit after hit. Flustered, Mario covered his hand with his face while the few players that were in the dugout grumbled. However, when it was the team's turn to hit, they could hardly get anyone on base. It was currently Drake's turn to bat and he was waiting for a pitch from the Starmen's pitcher. As soon as the pitch was thrown, which appeared to be outside, was called a strike by the umpire.

"That was a strike? Oh, come on! That was outside!" the Angels' manager complained.

"Yeah, are you freakin' blind?" Scout added from behind him. Eventually the Bostonian player started to curse, much to the shock of Lucas and Lilo. Mario groaned after hearing his comments and went to sit down on the bench until the boy began to call the manager over.

"What's wrong?" Mario asked Lucas after coming over to his side.

"It's been five innings and still no angels," the blond responded.

"Yeah?"

"I was thinking… maybe the team shouldn't swear so much. I don't think the angels like it."

The manager took off his hat and scratched his head. If that's what he had to do to help the team, then okay. He wasn't so sure on how his team would take it, however. Mario sat down onto the bench of the dugout to players grumbling and cussing under their breath. "Let's-a tone down the profanity, all-a right?" he told loudly to his players.

"What?" the whole team asked as they stared back in confusion.

"Are you freakin' serious?" Scout asked. Mario just stared back at him as if he was saying "What do you think?" until the young adult turned his attention to Izumi Himuro, who was sitting to his right. "What's up with that?" he asked her. She just responded with a shrug.

It was now late in the afternoon, the game had remained a stalemate and an angel was nowhere to be found except for in the home team's dugout. "As we approach the end of the ninth, the Starmen have decided to bring in their reliever to pitch to the Angels' most dangerous hitter, Hiroki Takasugi." Mr. Ubetcha announced. Lucas was about to give up looking for one when out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a glowing figure standing behind Leela, who was stretching. Upon closer inspection, he soon discovered that it was an angel with brown hair in a braid with a deep pink bow tied to the base of it. She was helping the player loosen up a bit until she turned towards the boy and smiled at him.

"Neat," Lucas chuckled to himself but it was loud enough for Lilo to hear him.

"What is it, Lucas? Do you see an angel?"

"Yeah, right behind Leela." Knowing that the blond had to get rid of their guardian for the game, the boy turned his attention towards the man. "Roderich, I need something to drink."

"I just gave you a soda a few minutes ago."

"I don't want it, I want something else."

"Like what?"

"Um… coffee."

"You drink coffee?" Austria raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. All the time."

"Yeah, we're not little kids," Lilo added.

"Fine, then. How do you take it?" their guardian for the game asked.

Lucas thought for a second. He wasn't really sure what Roderich meant but he answered with the best of his knowledge. "In a cup, hot."

"Me too," his friend added.

Austria just sighed and got up to head to the concession stands. As soon as he was out of sight, Lucas stood up from his seat and began to flap his arms like a bird to get Mario's attention. "We got one, Mario!" the boy called to him as Lilo joined in. It took a few seconds but eventually the manager came over to the boy's seat.

"What's-a wrong?" Mario asked.

"Nothing but there's an angel over with Leela," the blond responded before pointing a finger towards the female baseball player. "She's giving her a massage."

The manager looked over his shoulder but he didn't see anything, just his player rolling her neck to stretch it out.

"Sorry but-a I don't see anything. I don't-a know what you're-a seeing."

"But she's right there!" Lucas protested. Mario looked towards Leela again but still saw nothing. Even Lilo looked confused.

"Okey-dokey… So, what do ya want-a me to do?"

"Pinch hit."

"What?"

"Put her in to pinch hit for Hiroki."

"But Takasugi is-a my best hitta. Leela can't-a hit to save-a her life. I can't-a substitute my worst batta for my best one. It's-a not smart baseball."

"But if you want a hit, you'll put her in."

"Just forget about it."

"But what about the angel? They're here to help us!"

Mario began to walk away from Lucas when he started to think a bit more about the repercussions of putting Leela in in place of Hiroki. "Then again, we're all-a ready the worst team in the league. Can't-a really fall out of last place." The manager walked over towards the female baseball player, who promptly stopped stretching once she saw the man looking at her, before he said something to his player about to bat. "Go ahead and sit down, Hiroki. You're up, Leela."

"You're kidding me," Hiroki answered as he went over towards Mario.

Mario shook his head. "You're out, she's in."

Takasugi started to grumble angrily in Japanese as his replacement got a baseball bat and a helmet on.

"Sorry, Takasugi," she said to him before her teammate tossed his bat angrily into the dugout.

"As Takasugi was getting ready to bat, Mario has decided to pinch hit." Chet stated as he gestured to Zoidberg to give him the name of the player who was going to send in to lead off. "He's decided to bring in Taranga Leela, his lady outfielder, who is definitely not known for her bat, ladies and gentlemen."

The stadium began to fill with boos and jeers and Leela took her place in the batter's box. "Leela for Takasugi? Get your butt out of Toontown!" Wario shouted angrily from the stands.

As the jeers continued, she got into her stance and the Starmen's pitcher began to throw the ball to her. The first pitch whizzed by her, right down the middle, for a strike, which was followed by more boos. Mario sighed, wondering if he made the right decision while Lucas sat in the stands, wondering why an angel wasn't helping her out. When the Starmen made their second pitch to her, Leela tried to swing at the ball but it was outside and she swung a second too late. The manager covered his face with his hand.

"Watch the ball!" he shouted to his current batter.

As the pitcher was about to strike the woman out, the same angel that had been by Leela's side, massaging her came out of nowhere and slowed down the pitch to about a crawl. Mario stared at the ball in confusion while the two friends stared at each other and back to the play at hand. The umpire, catcher and Leela were just as confused as the manager but the female player decided to swing at the ball anyways, taking advantage of the peculiar slowdown.

As soon as the ball and bat connected, she took off as fast as she could towards first base while the pitcher charged at the baseball. However, it made a sharp right turn towards the first baseman and the pitcher fell onto his face. As he and the second baseman tried to grab the ball, it made a zigzag motion across the field and the two players slammed into each other. Eventually, the entire infield tried to get the baseball, but to no avail. Unbeknownst to them, the ball was actually being controlled by Mr. Jimmy, who was kicking the baseball around like a hackeysack.

As Leela rounded first base, the Starmen still struggled to get control off the ball and the pitcher ended up hitting several of his teammates with his glove as he attempted to catch it. Mario and the rest of his players cheered their teammate on as she headed towards third while the visiting team kept on getting error after error, from the shortstop slipping on the ball to the pitcher taking a crotch shot. After passing the first three bases safely, she started heading towards home while the second baseman finally got a hold of the ball and threw it to the catcher. Leela slid into home plate and managed to beat the throw, thanks to the help of the angel in the white suit.

"Safe!" the umpire shouted as roars of cheers filled the stadium. The Angel's most unreliable batter had made an infield home run and gave the team their second victory.

"And for the first time this season, Taranga Leela scores with an infield home run and the Angels win the game, one to nothing!" Chet shouted into his microphone.

Leela's teammates ran to home plate to greet the player at the same time their manager stood in shock.

"This play will go down in history for its craziness, ladies and gentlemen! It's was just pain insanity! Never seen anything like it and I believe these umps are thinking the same thing."

The four umpires on the field got their hands on the ball and began to look it over for a reasonable explanation for all of those errors. However, they saw nothing strange; it was just an ordinary baseball.

"Something funny is-a going on around here…" Mario said to himself as he crossed his arms and lifted his left hand up to his chin before glancing over towards Lucas. "He has to know something I don't…"

"Is it safe to say that the Angels are now on a winning streak or was these last couple of games just a fake out? Only time will tell, folks." The scoreboard continued to add on error after error as Mr. Ubetcha switched himself off the air to get the stats on the game. "Where are my stats? I'm hanging on the air here! How many errors were there?"

"There were lots of errors," Zoidberg said to he co-worker.

"No duh there. I need an exact amount. Whatever happened out there, that was not baseball. That was a comedy act."

Eventually the error count on the scoreboard stopped at 18 as Mario took his team into the lockers and Roderich took the tow kids into Mario's office by the locker room. Lilo was messing with Austria as Mario came into his office after making sure that all of his players were inside, cleaning up from the game.

"Roderich, whateva you've been working on before, forget about it. I've got a new job for you. You'll be helping out be because these two kids are going to be at all of our games."

"Oh, cool!" Lucas smiled before he and Lilo gave each other a high five.

"Wait, my job now is keeping an eye on these two? I'm help out with media, not childcare."

"But-a you've bonded with them! I can't-a imagine anyone else helping me out with-a these two. Stick around."

Roderich sighed. "Very well. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Great." Mario led the man out of the room and turned his attention to Lucas. "You were-a right! Leela actually came through!"

"That's because of the angel," the boy responded. "They're helping the team"

"Well, whatevea but we're-a winning. Once I'm-a done here, I'll-a take you two home."

"Okay, Mr. Mario. Can you believe it, Lilo? All of the games!"

"Yeah, awesome!" she agreed. "We better call Frankie and tell her."

"Why can't we tell her when we get back?"

"It will give us something to do while we wait for Mario."

Lucas shrugged. "Okay."

While Mario worked on some things for the team, Lucas and Lilo went ahead and called their current guardian about the good news. However, she said that there would be no way they would be able to attend all of the Angels' away games so they would have to bring that up to Mario. Once the manager was the done, the three made their way out of the stadium towards the parking lot for all of the players and workers for the team. Lucas and Lilo's arms were laden with souvenirs from the game, from Angels jackets to toys.

"I'm-a sure we can keep connected somehow during away games," Mario told Lucas. "Do you-a have an internet connection? We can-a message each other as-a you watch the game on TV."

"Can't use just use the phone in the dugout?"

"That too."

As soon as they got to the parking lot, Lilo stopped in her tracks once she noticed Mario's ride. Even though it was a nice car, it still made her nervous. Mario continued to converse with the blond until he noticed that Lilo was no longer following him and Lucas to his car. "What's the matta?" the manager asked her before turning his attention back to the boy. "Does she get carsick?"

"Not really. See, she lost her parents in a car accident a couple months ago and now she's afraid of riding in one herself."

Mario sighed. He didn't want to make Lilo feel miserable so he did the next best thing; take them home using the team bus.

Kids stared at the vehicle made its way down the streets of Toontown, towards the kids' foster home. Even Frankie was generally surprised when he saw the large bus pull up to the front of her house. She stuck her head outside the window from the kitchen as Lucas and Lilo got off.

"I'll-a call your tomorrow, all right?" Mario said to the boy.

"Okay, Mario," he answered as he got off the bus. "Thanks for the ride."

"No problem."

"Yeah, thanks a bunch," Lilo added as she departed as well and the two went into the house.

"Hey, guys. How was the game?" Frankie asked as the two kids came through the front door.

"Great. We won," Lilo answered as she followed Lucas into their rooms.

"Did you say 'thank you' to Mr. Mario for the game and the ride?"

"Yep."

"Good. Now go ahead and wash up. Dinner's ready."

"Hey, Frankie, where's Cartman?" Lucas asked as he emerged from the hallway while Lilo went into the bathroom get ready for dinner. "We got him some stuff from the game today."

"He got placed in another foster home today."

"He's gone?"

The red-headed woman nodded. "I only have a license for short-term care and Eric has been here for over half a year. These things happen."

"Do you think we'll ever see him again? Maybe in court?"

"I don't know but don't worry about that now. Just go on and get ready to eat."

"Okay, Frankie."

After overhearing Lucas and Frankie from the bathroom, thoughts began to float through Lilo's head. Would the same thing happen to her and Lucas? Would they be separated and never see each other again? He was the only true friend she had had in a long time and didn't want to lose him because of the court system. Would her sister come for her before that ever happens? She sighed to herself and finished washing her hands before heading towards the table to have dinner.

* * *

Authoress' notes: Lucas doesn't officially have a last name so I gave him one. The one given to him, Oriander, is named after where his grandfather, Alec, lives at the beginning of Mother 3.


End file.
